European Union Police and Civilian Services Training
From 2019 to 2022, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee will be chair of the European Union Police and Civilian Services Training (EUPCST). This is a coalition of 23 European gendarmerie forces, police forces and civilian parties.
Network members work together in developing and transferring knowledge and skills for international missions. The different organisations train together, gather together during training programmes, and share knowledge in congresses and workshops.
Each year, the European Commission makes funds available to organise training programmes for police personnel from the Member States of the European Union. These training programmes are intended as a preparation for police missions.
EUPCST
The aim of the EUPCST-programme is to build up police capabilities such as interoperability (cooperation), harmonisation (standardisation) and an international network. These capabilities are required to participate in international crisis management operations of the European Union, the United Nations, the African Union and other international organisations. The programme comprises larger exercises, task-specific training programmes and academic knowledge transfer. In practice this means that local people receive support in building up their own organisation, for example in the aftermath of a crisis in their country.
Follow-up to previous programmes
EUPCST 2019-2022 is a follow-up of the European Union Police Forces Training (EUPFT) in 2008-2010, the European Union Police Services Training (EUPST I) in 2011-2013 and EUPST II in 2015-2018.